You Sound Sick, Bro
by Spider RedNight
Summary: Rhys hesitated at first. Sick? He didn't GET sick. He was the kid in school who had nowhere to go BECAUSE it was known he never got sick so it wasn't ever a valid excuse.


Rhys groaned, flopped over on his bed and sat up groggily, smacking his lips and wiping a thin film of sweat from his forehead. He was having the HARDEST time trying to sleep and if it wasn't one thing it was another; he was hot, he was cold, his port ached, his eye ached, his legs itched... He rolled out of bed and landed on the carpet floor with a quiet thud. He got to his feet with some more groans and in his half-asleep stupour, he slid into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, his colourful socks shining in the dark from what glimpses of light they could catch. He sloppily activated his ECHO and dialed up the only dude he knew who was probably still awake... Who was that again? Oh, wait, it was Vaughn.

"Hey Vaughn I'm goinmmnnm," He muttered and started half-trudging, half sleep-walking out of his apartment door with a tired sigh. "Gonna be but coming back," He said in a fragmented sentence and hung up drowsily. He had no idea where he was going. Or when. He wasn't even sure why he was awake as if he were on his way to work.

Vaughn had NO idea what to expect when his ECHO rang as he worked on a menial project. To his surprise, it was from Rhys, who was usually out like a light at this time of night. "H-Hello?" What came out of his tall friends' mouth made no sense and Rhys fell silent. "Look, come over bro." He suggested, furrowing his brow. What was he doing?

Okay so Rhys hadn't QUITE hung up; he heard Vaughn's voice emitting from his arm. He lifted his arm back up as he made his way outside his complex into the still corridors... streets of Helios. "Goin' for a walk come with," He managed to yawn, reaching up and rubbing one of his eyes with a small shudder. The glow from Pandora cast a soft hue on everything that reflected its light and that light caught on the breaths that Rhys exhaled, rising and dissipating into the air. He blinked slowly, still very much out of it and his head bobbled in a direction. "Gon go that way," He muttered, licking his lips and smacking them quietly. He started to shuffle in that vague direction, his deep subconscious knowing he was heading to Vaughn's house but his outer shell thinking that they were in no hurry.

Vaughn listened as his friend drunkenly slurred his words together and he gave a resigned sigh, hanging up and standing up from his desk. _'I have to go find him.'_ He got up and threw on a hoodie, activating Rhys' ECHO tracking signal. _'Please don't get yourself hurt, you goon,'_ he thought to himself, heading out into the chilled night.

* * *

Rhys exhaled again and another shiver worked its way up his spine. He frowned to himself and his eyes fluttered open for a few moments; he was usually really flexible with the temperature and he pulled up the weather casually, if... well, half-asleep. 68, usually the PERFECT temp to go for a midnight walk... if it was midnight. Was he going for a walk? He didn't know and shrugged again, shuffling at a zombie's pace. Was he drooling? Probably. He reached up and covered his port instinctively, starting to feel the tinge of cold on the thinner parts of his skin; he was unused to being out at this time of night, he knew that deep down. He liked sleeping, he liked his bed, he liked going to sleep and staying asleep. He paused in his shuffle and ran his fingers through his hair, turning his head as if to look back in the direction he came. Nothing but stillness and silence. He grunted and struggled to open his eyes, almost as if he were awake inside but dead and asleep on the outside.

* * *

Vaughn ran faster than he wanted, trying to find his possibly sick friend. His ECHO beeped as he got closer. "Rhys!" He rounded a corner and saw his tall male friend wandering around aimlessly and tiredly. "Rhys! Come over here!" He called, motioning with his hand; what even. Rhys heard his name from what seemed like far away and he turned his head, trying to wake up just a bit more. He blinked a couple of times; they felt like they dried out quicker in this weather and he sniffed quietly. Wondering for a second if this was like a serial killer who knew his name somehow and had planned on murdering him for organ harvesting but quickly neglecting the thought, he made his way over to the shorter shadow that suddenly appeared from the corner. As he approached, he ran his natural hand through his messy, wavy brown hair drowsily.

"Oh... Hey, Vaughn," He yawned as he said casually. "What are you doing out here?" He glanced around and he became a little more aware. "Uhm... Where IS here?" He asked; it was starting to come back to him and he tried to examine his surroundings, his ECHO eye flickering with instability.

Vaughn sighed. Definitely sick. He crossed his arms sternly but tried to sound as calm and gentle as possible. "You sound sick, bro. You called me like fifteen minutes ago and said you were going for a walk and now you are wandering around in the Hub of Heriosm. It's like... 11:30 pm. Come here. I can carry you back to my place. I will take care of you." He offered, keeping his faded blue eyes on Rhys' frame. Rhys hesitated at first. Sick? He didn't GET sick. He was the kid in school who had nowhere to go BECAUSE it was known he never got sick so it wasn't ever a valid excuse.

"It's only 11.30?" He asked with a small frown. "It feels like six in the morning." He looked towards Pandora as he spoke, his pupils contracting because of the natural light. "Wait..." He smiled slightly. "You said you'd carry me? C'mon bro, you don't have to do that; I doubt I'm even sick. It's probably just sleep-walking or..." He faltered and blinked, staying still for a second before quickly lifting the collar of his t-shirt over his nose and sneezing loudly. His eyes snapped back open and a faint flickering from his ECHO eye could be seen for a split second, especially visible in the dark area they occupied before it settled down back to its blue hue. "Ohhh WHAT? That's so gro- awww," He whined in a slightly muffled voice with a grimace, keeping his shirt on his face. He furrowed his brow with evident disgust, sat down on the cold ground quickly and remained motionless as if after that if he even moved his shirt a fraction, he'd get whatever he thought was inside on THE REST OF THE STATION.

Vaughn watched for a moment, resisting the urge to roll his eyes as if to say "NO DUH." He walked over picked his sick Rhys up and bridal styled him on his back like a boss, starting to carry him home with impressive strength… well, for anyone who wasn't aware that Vaughn was actually ripped. Fortunately, Rhys was a slow wanderer and they weren't entirely that far away from Vaughn's place anyway. "You need me, bro." He opened the door to his apartment, laid Rhys down on his bed and brought in some gym shorts and a t-shirt. "Change into these and lay down. I'll take care of you." He said, pointing to the clothes and crossing his arms casually; to be fair, Rhys was usually pretty self-reliant and while this was strange for Vaughn to find this role-reversal, he wasn't exactly complaining. Now Rhys couldn't ever say that Vaughn didn't do nothing for him.

"But I'll get germs all on them," Rhys whined in response as he looked pathetically up at Vaughn, trying to ignore his animal instinct of scratching at his nose and getting rid of all the gross nasty stuff that was just waiting. Like a lioness. In some tall grass. "And your bed and what if I get you sick and-" He was cut short as before, pausing and lifting his shirt over his face to catch another sneeze. "Uuugh," He groaned, opening his eyes as his ECHO eye flickered again. "I forgot what I was gonna say. Is this karma? I don't like this stuff. It's... I don't like this," He frowned and squirmed slightly, probably sounding like a fussy child but he just hated feeling helpless. Rhys always did stuff on his own; being an only child did that sometimes and his inner pride was hating this whole… "depend on other people" thing.

Vaughn kept his arms crossed, quirking an eyebrow. "Bro. That is why there is a washer and dryer. Now get dressed. Don't make me do it." He walked away and changed himself, as he was still in his work clothes. His shift never ended, but he felt important when he was in his work clothes… not EVERYONE could afford a life of luxury like his dumb, adorable friend who currently reminded him of a whining puppy who wasn't sure why he was whining.

Rhys furrowed his brow and tilted his head. 'The hell... washer and dryer?' He had to contemplate for several moments before scoffing at himself. Okay so... maybe he WAS this weird thing call "sick". "Fine, I'll do it myself... but I won't like it," He grumbled, starting to slide back out of his shirt as carefully as he could at first though the gesture didn't last long as he had to stop twice and cover his mouth and nose again from another sneeze. It went from carefully to hurriedly and he tossed the shirt off him with vivacity and slunk into the shirt Vaughn gave him the moment he recovered… and seeing the light from his ECHO eye blink every time he sneezed was starting to get on his nerves like how you can see the light of your printer blinking out of your peripheral vision when you aren't using it. "Do you have any of those things that are like paper and they're usually white and really soft?" He motioned, snapping his fingers as he struggled to get into the shorts... what WERE these contraptions? Whyyyy was he so cold? It was the weirdest thing, he felt like a second of relief when he took the clothes OFF but then like a MOMENT later he was freezing again. THIS WAS THE WORST AND HE HATED IT and he wished he could just curl up and die. He was restless and anxious and tired and sore all at the same time and he couldn't remember the last time he felt this uncomfortable with existing since he first got his implants.

"You mean a blanket? Yeah, just get under the covers." Vaughn chuckled, leaving the room briefly. He went into his medicine cabinet and got out some cold medicine. "Take this." He sat down, placed the medicine on Rhys' lap and waited, watching Rhys as he sweated. With a small grunt of effort at just having sat down, he got up again and wet a wash cloth and wiped Rhys head, who initially moved his head away but quickly tossed the idea of movement for the sake of movement and resigned; he bet Vaughn was just LOVING this. He shook his head at what Vaughn said; not the medicine thing but the blanket thing. What, did Vaughn think he didn't know what blankets were? Blankets were shrouds of love and comfort and some of them felt as soft as sheep mouths.

"No, I mean those things you use for-" He groped for his old shirt as he reached his familiar pause and sneezed into it. "...That," He finished with a sniff, deciding to keep the shirt nearby and turned his attention to the weird liquid that looked like rich, fresh blood. Was he just REALLY insane right now? How come none of this stuff seemed familiar? _'Cherry flavoured'_ , He read on the side of the container. He assumed the small plastic cup on the top was for measuring the medicine but he wanted to see if Vaughn knew what was talking about, first.

"OH." Vaugh got up again, trotted to the living room and got a box of tissues and gave them to Rhys; did Rhys HONESTLY not know what tissues were? He bet Rhys was just screwing around to get Vaughn to run around. "You mean these." He laughed. He saw Rhys eyeing the meds. "It will help you get better, I proooomise," He said in a slightly sing-song voice.

"Yeahhh those are it," Rhys said, lacking the shame usually accompanying not knowing what tissues were and took the box. "As in you're trying to kill me, right?" Rhys was adamant if slightly paranoid; this WAS Hyperion. Watch, Vaughn would wait until he took this poison then when he was dead, Vaughn would gouge his ECHO eye and rip off his arm and take them for his own! Rhys had like the most content poker face as he imagined his best friend poisoning him and taking his body parts and snickered at himself quietly before sniffing and making a sound between a pig snort and a bird gurgling in its own blood after getting shot. _'Yeah okay.'_ Vaughn just stared at him.

"I'm considering if you don't take it." He sighed. Why wouldn't Rhys just calm down and take it? What would persuade him to even think that Vaughn, his best friend, would KILL him after CARRYING HIM TO HIS HOUSE and PUTTING HIS SICK BUTT in Vaughn's bed?

Rhys quirked an eyebrow, assuming his friend wasn't serious. "I told you you didn't have to carry me back here," He said in that tone that everyone hates. "Fine, I'll take your..." Pause. "... _Hnnntss!_ Dragon blood," He said, using the thing called TISSUE this time instead of his shirt though it still felt weird and the flickering was getting old, fast. "Like, ah... what was that one dungeon boss we fought and like it was a dragon but we could harvest its organs or something?" He asked as he shakily poured himself the right amount; he wasn't sure about this but when in doubt, nerd it out; talking about the scenario made him feel better… at least on the inside. "Do you remember that?" It had been awhile since they table-top campaigned but there was DEFINITELY a dragon. He thought. Maybe it was a kobold. DISGUISED AS A DRAGON WHAAAT.

"Sure..." Vaughn decided to humor his delirious friend. Where was that cooling strip he could slap on Rhys' head? Or just slap him in general? He was being obtuse and Vaughn had to consider that Rhys sometimes had a penchant for talking when he was nervous. "I'll stay up with you bro. Just try and get some sleep." He said, adjusting himself so that he was more comfortable.

Rhys frowned. "You don't remember that, do you," HOW DISAPPOINTING. He sighed and slithered under the covers, deciding for a second to be completely submerged but then changing his mind and flopping his natural arm out, groaning softly and rubbing his head. "How do you sleep when you can't breathe out of your nose?" He asked; HOW the hell did normal people do this? His immune system must've... dove off into the abyss or something since his operation 'cuz MAN did this suck. "It's like if you took a cat and just LODGED it into your face," He said and the mere thought made him sneeze again. Whoa, that was psychosomatic. "I mean... to me." He added with a small shrug. His mind was racing now... his body was tired but MAN was he awake. "What if you fall asleep?" He asked. "I don't wanna keep you up..." He wasn't sure what he was trying to say but he hoped it DIDN'T make him sound like a sad sack.

"Bro, you're fine," Vaughn laughed. "I'll be awake and take care of you. Besides, I have work to do," He insisted with his own shrug. Rhys also chuckled in spite of himself and it dissolved into rather tame coughing and he grimaced, clutching his abs.

"Nnnng," He groaned with another growling sniff. "I'm getting germs all on your bed," He insisted; to be fair, the bed WAS really comfy but still, it was killing him; he had hang ups with germs, evidently and it probably made him sound like a stuck up jerk but he didn't care.

"Bro. B r o. You're fine, I don't care." He laughed. I don't know why you're so worried about it." He smiled faintly. Goofy Rhys, he sounded like such an only child right now..

"I WORRY ABOUT CONTAMINATION-" He shouted, visibly panicked. He stopped again, paused, and snatched another tissue from the box, sneezing into it several times, appearing simultaneously more tired and irritated. He started to wait patiently for his eye to catch up with the REST of his body but he got bored of the continuous flickering like a modem light wanting to figure out if it wanted to be active or inactive and slapped a hand over his ECHO eye with a growl. "Yeah okay," He relinquished and flopped back onto the pillow. "This isn't fun anymore." He said slowly. He could feel his eyelids getting heavier and he struggled to stay awake at this point which felt REALLY weird considering how hyper he felt just three minutes ago. "You should... don't tell Jack," He said, his speech becoming fragmented with sleep once more. "He won't let me live it down," He said softly and curled into a small ball with his natural arm outstretched rather oddly, muttering things that were incomprehensible. "Thanks, bro. Sorry I was... and I got... and your bed," He said in a muffled voice.

"Why would I tell Jack? What good would that do?" Vaughn sat back and thought for a minute… Well, it WAS Jack. "Oh. Gotcha." He got up and dimmed the lights down. Then he walked over and planted a small kiss onto Rhys' forehead "Sleep well bro. Get better." He said gently. "I'll be right here if you need anything."

Rhys recoiled with a small smile and crinkled into a tighter ball. "Thanks, man." And he drifted off.


End file.
